The search has resumed for Iowa State’s new Vice President of Research, with three finalists left for the position. 

The search originally launched last December but was postponed due to COVID-19.

Iowa State’s new Vice President of Research will be tasked with leading the university’s research enterprise, overseeing award administration and compliance and supporting the innovation Iowa State’s researchers, according to the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost’s official job posting. 

The Vice President of Research also creates strategies to maintain research funds and increase the amount of research funding Iowa State receives. 

Requirements in the job posting included a record of commitment to diversity and inclusion, excellent communication skills, eligibility for appointment at the rank of tenured professor and commensurate leadership and experience.

The first finalist, Shashank Priya from Pennsylvania State University, completed his campus interview in March before the search was paused.

Priya is currently a professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State University and serves as associate vice president for research and director of strategic initiatives in the Office of the Vice President for Research at Penn State. His areas of research include multi-functional materials, energy and bio-inspired systems.

Before joining Penn State in 2018, he served as associate director of the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science at Virginia Tech and is a former director of the National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems. 

The other two finalists are Cynthia Sagers from Arizona State University and Peter Dorhout from Kansas State University. 

Sagers currently serves as vice president for research at Arizona State University and is a professor of integrative sciences and arts, in addition to serving on the executive committee of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ Council on Research. 

Sagers joined Arizona State in 2018 prior to serving as vice president for research at Oregon State University and associate vice provost for research and economic development at the University of Arkansas. Her research has been within the fields of biology and environmental science. She holds bachelor’s degrees in general science and biology from the University of Iowa and a graduate degree from the University of Utah.

Dorhout also serves as vice president for research at Kansas State, where he is a chemistry professor. Before joining Kansas State in 2012, Dorhout served as dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences before being appointed to his current position in 2016. Dorhout has also served as assistant vice president for research and graduate dean at Colorado State University.